ABOUT THE RETIRED CORRECTIONAL PEACE OFFICERS MUSEUM

AT FOLSOM STATE PRISON

The retired Correctional Peace Officers (RCPO) Museum at Folsom State Prison, is operated by the Retired Correctional Peace Officer Association. The museum is a non-profit charitable organization not an entity of the state. The museum is dedicated to the prison staff who have died from cancer. The museum donates to the American Cancer Society, Fisher House and Make-A-Wish programs.

The museum chronicles the prison's blood history. Discover the reason for Johnny Cash's "Blues" at Folsom State Prison. Learn how the prison was fashioned from gray granite from the surrounding rock quarries. The museum features a wealth of photographs, old hemp ropes used to hang prisoners, memorabilia from Johnny Cash's famed concert shows, a hand-cranked Gatling gun, many inmate manufactured weapons and an eight-foot motorized Ferris Wheel created by a prisoner in the 1930s, which is made of a quarter million toothpicks.

In 1975, the Folsom Prison Museum was opened as part of the original Folsom Prison Gift Shop which was run by inmate workers. Some of the prison artifacts on display were removed by the Gift Shop inmate workers. In 1994, a decision was made by John Fratis (a retired correctional staff member) with the assistance of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), to sponsor the Retired Correctional Peace Officers Museum at Folsom State Prison.